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Politics
The Politics of Burma
Political Pressure
The Influence of Religion
The Fight for Democracy
The Future?
The current political climate within Burma is tense. The country is governed by a military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). Military regimes have effectively run the country under one guise or another since 1962. The country was formerly a self-isolated socialist state, with few allies; today it has a failing market economy with the changed name of 'The Union of Myanmar', and has become increasingly dependent on its close neighbours, notably China, India and Thailand.
Months before the June 1989 slaughter at Tiananmen Square in China, there was an uprising in Burma in August 1988 lead by students. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Aung San, the leader of the Burmese independence struggle in the 1940s, became the focal point for the democracy movement. Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), won the 1990 elections with almost 60% of the votes, winning just over 80% of the seats, despite the fact that Suu Kyi herself was under house arrest and not allowed to stand. She has spent many years in and out of house arrest and came to international fame when she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Hopes of democracy in Burma would be greatly enhanced if only the generals would sit down and talk as equals with the woman known in Burma as 'The Lady'.
With over 100 ethnic groups of varying sizes mainly living in the border areas of Burma, many related to identical ethnic groups outside the country, the political situation within Burma has long been in a state of flux.. Many of these groups have fought the Burmese at some point since independence in 1948, although today the situation remains fairly peaceful. Attacks on the ethnic groups have in the past lead to many of them to cultivate opium in order to buy weapons. Burma is now the second largest producer of opium in the world at 312 metric tones in 2005 compared with a massive 4,100 metric tonnes in Afghanistan.
There are Burmese refugees throughout the world. Some fled to Britain and the US in the early 1960s and late1980s, and many still flee to Thailand primarily for economic reasons and also to avoid military onslaughts. Many of the groups have set up campaigns and websites of their own to highlight their cause. They have had considerable success in bringing the human rights abuses to the attention of the world.
Political Pressure
As a member of ASEAN, Burma has come under some pressure to enter into a political dialogue with the democracy movement. The ASEAN countries have used less vociferous tactics in order to try to change the country, as they have preferred engagement rather than isolation. The saying 'one should keep your friends close and enemies closer' sums up the method in which the ASEAN countries have chosen how to deal with their difficult associate. There are however signs that ASEAN countries have recently become rather exasperated with Burma and that they have quietly abandoned their former policy of engagement.
Burma has been a member of the United Nations since 1948. It maintains barely satisfactory relations with UN agencies and organizations. For over three years now, despite repeated requests, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar and the former Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Myanmar have been unable to visit the country. However UN Undersecretary General Ibrahim Gambari has been able to visit twice during 2006 and on both occasions to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, still under house arrest. At US instigation, the UN Security Council has agreed to examine “The Situation in Myanmar”, but both China and Russia have made it clear that they are in principle opposed to any serious discussion, and this for the present makes it unlikely that there will be any tough Security Council Resolution.
Inspectors from Amnesty International visited Burma twice in 2003, and in a series of informative and influential reports on human rights abuses in Burma have succeeded in maintaining world attention. Reports by other human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch, as well as reports by the US and UK authorities, have ensured that human rights issues in Burma remain very much in international focus.
The Influence of Religion
It is impossible to discuss the political climate without mentioning the role of Buddhism. Everyday on the state-owned news channel there are pictures of the leading generals making gifts to monasteries and building pagodas in order to carry merit through into the next life. This is thought to be an attempt to reflect the traditional role of Burma’s rulers as guardians of the faith. Buddhists however are generally peace-loving and for them to fight the ruling class is perhaps not natural. Monks in Burma have in the past shown a measure of militancy, but are unlikely to stand up to the junta en masse, although monks have been known to hide pro-democracy supporters, especially after the rallies in 1988. There are thought to be some 600,000 monks in Burma compared with some 450,000 men in the Armed Services.
The Struggle for Democracy
The junta has controlled the media for decades. This has meant that if there were ever demonstrations in one of the areas of Burma, it would be difficult for the message of freedom to spread to another division in order for the rebellion to spread. As television is strictly controlled by the junta, several independent radio stations have spread the voice of freedom, such as the Norwegian 'Democratic Voice of Burma' (DVB). More recently, however, satellite television has mushroomed in Burma, including transmissions from the DVB. As a result, the Burmese population is rather better informed nowadays about the world outside.
DVB, CNN and the BBC, both through their Burmese language radio broadcasts and through satellite television, aim:
· to provide accurate and unbiased news to the people of Burma
· to promote understanding and cooperation amongst the various ethnic and religious groups of Burma,
· to encourage and sustain independent public opinion and enable social and political debate
· to impart the ideals of democracy and human rights to the people of Burma.
Their efforts have met with some success in Burma, and there is no shortage of information sources on human rights abuses.
Any search on the internet for campaigns for democracy in Burma will receive a large number of “hits”. These organisations have different methods and their successes have been varied. In Britain the Burma Campaign UK has had considerable successes in highlighting the problems in Burma . They act as Secretary to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Democracy in Burma and have worked hard to persuade some international businesses to leave Burma. The “Burma Project” sponsors organisations working at the grass roots level and has paid for the education of Burmese students, in the hope that they will return to their country when it is safe to do so.
The Future?
The prospects for democracy in the near future remain slim. There are many organizations that deserve praise for the way that they have highlighted the problems in Burma; however many educated well-informed people in the West still do not know of the human rights abuses in Burma, as it is not a priority for the major powers in the world. Burma does not posses any weapons of mass destruction, its exports of natural gas have unexpectedly provided an annual bonanza of US$ 1 billion and rising, and the country is too good an ally of China to be under serious threat from international pressures.
The prospects for democracy might come down one of four paths. The more likely scenario is that the long drawn out process to draft a new constitution is actually completed and that elections follow which would lead to a civilian administration, albeit under continuing tight military control and influence - this would hardly be seen around the world as a transition to democracy, but it might just be the first step on the ladder. Less likely is the prospect that the people might rise up again, as they did in 1988, and seize power following a period of bloody civil disobedience. Thirdly, there might be a change in the military leadership, though a coup or natural causes like death or retirement, which could lead to a more enlightened administration. Fourthly, and least likely, there might be some outside intervention to depose the regime.
The only clear element in Burma's politics is that all the people of Burma have experienced a very hard time for far too long. Any transition to democracy is likely to be long drawn out, and some form of power sharing between the political parties and the military seems inevitable if a start is to be made on the slow road to democracy.
The debate on Burma, though, should not cease until democracy and the protection of human rights are achieved for its people.
Political Pressure
The Influence of Religion
The Fight for Democracy
The Future?
The current political climate within Burma is tense. The country is governed by a military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). Military regimes have effectively run the country under one guise or another since 1962. The country was formerly a self-isolated socialist state, with few allies; today it has a failing market economy with the changed name of 'The Union of Myanmar', and has become increasingly dependent on its close neighbours, notably China, India and Thailand.
Months before the June 1989 slaughter at Tiananmen Square in China, there was an uprising in Burma in August 1988 lead by students. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of Aung San, the leader of the Burmese independence struggle in the 1940s, became the focal point for the democracy movement. Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), won the 1990 elections with almost 60% of the votes, winning just over 80% of the seats, despite the fact that Suu Kyi herself was under house arrest and not allowed to stand. She has spent many years in and out of house arrest and came to international fame when she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Hopes of democracy in Burma would be greatly enhanced if only the generals would sit down and talk as equals with the woman known in Burma as 'The Lady'.
With over 100 ethnic groups of varying sizes mainly living in the border areas of Burma, many related to identical ethnic groups outside the country, the political situation within Burma has long been in a state of flux.. Many of these groups have fought the Burmese at some point since independence in 1948, although today the situation remains fairly peaceful. Attacks on the ethnic groups have in the past lead to many of them to cultivate opium in order to buy weapons. Burma is now the second largest producer of opium in the world at 312 metric tones in 2005 compared with a massive 4,100 metric tonnes in Afghanistan.
There are Burmese refugees throughout the world. Some fled to Britain and the US in the early 1960s and late1980s, and many still flee to Thailand primarily for economic reasons and also to avoid military onslaughts. Many of the groups have set up campaigns and websites of their own to highlight their cause. They have had considerable success in bringing the human rights abuses to the attention of the world.
Political Pressure
As a member of ASEAN, Burma has come under some pressure to enter into a political dialogue with the democracy movement. The ASEAN countries have used less vociferous tactics in order to try to change the country, as they have preferred engagement rather than isolation. The saying 'one should keep your friends close and enemies closer' sums up the method in which the ASEAN countries have chosen how to deal with their difficult associate. There are however signs that ASEAN countries have recently become rather exasperated with Burma and that they have quietly abandoned their former policy of engagement.
Burma has been a member of the United Nations since 1948. It maintains barely satisfactory relations with UN agencies and organizations. For over three years now, despite repeated requests, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar and the former Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General for Myanmar have been unable to visit the country. However UN Undersecretary General Ibrahim Gambari has been able to visit twice during 2006 and on both occasions to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, still under house arrest. At US instigation, the UN Security Council has agreed to examine “The Situation in Myanmar”, but both China and Russia have made it clear that they are in principle opposed to any serious discussion, and this for the present makes it unlikely that there will be any tough Security Council Resolution.
Inspectors from Amnesty International visited Burma twice in 2003, and in a series of informative and influential reports on human rights abuses in Burma have succeeded in maintaining world attention. Reports by other human rights organizations like Human Rights Watch, as well as reports by the US and UK authorities, have ensured that human rights issues in Burma remain very much in international focus.
The Influence of Religion
It is impossible to discuss the political climate without mentioning the role of Buddhism. Everyday on the state-owned news channel there are pictures of the leading generals making gifts to monasteries and building pagodas in order to carry merit through into the next life. This is thought to be an attempt to reflect the traditional role of Burma’s rulers as guardians of the faith. Buddhists however are generally peace-loving and for them to fight the ruling class is perhaps not natural. Monks in Burma have in the past shown a measure of militancy, but are unlikely to stand up to the junta en masse, although monks have been known to hide pro-democracy supporters, especially after the rallies in 1988. There are thought to be some 600,000 monks in Burma compared with some 450,000 men in the Armed Services.
The Struggle for Democracy
The junta has controlled the media for decades. This has meant that if there were ever demonstrations in one of the areas of Burma, it would be difficult for the message of freedom to spread to another division in order for the rebellion to spread. As television is strictly controlled by the junta, several independent radio stations have spread the voice of freedom, such as the Norwegian 'Democratic Voice of Burma' (DVB). More recently, however, satellite television has mushroomed in Burma, including transmissions from the DVB. As a result, the Burmese population is rather better informed nowadays about the world outside.
DVB, CNN and the BBC, both through their Burmese language radio broadcasts and through satellite television, aim:
· to provide accurate and unbiased news to the people of Burma
· to promote understanding and cooperation amongst the various ethnic and religious groups of Burma,
· to encourage and sustain independent public opinion and enable social and political debate
· to impart the ideals of democracy and human rights to the people of Burma.
Their efforts have met with some success in Burma, and there is no shortage of information sources on human rights abuses.
Any search on the internet for campaigns for democracy in Burma will receive a large number of “hits”. These organisations have different methods and their successes have been varied. In Britain the Burma Campaign UK has had considerable successes in highlighting the problems in Burma . They act as Secretary to the All Party Parliamentary Group on Democracy in Burma and have worked hard to persuade some international businesses to leave Burma. The “Burma Project” sponsors organisations working at the grass roots level and has paid for the education of Burmese students, in the hope that they will return to their country when it is safe to do so.
The Future?
The prospects for democracy in the near future remain slim. There are many organizations that deserve praise for the way that they have highlighted the problems in Burma; however many educated well-informed people in the West still do not know of the human rights abuses in Burma, as it is not a priority for the major powers in the world. Burma does not posses any weapons of mass destruction, its exports of natural gas have unexpectedly provided an annual bonanza of US$ 1 billion and rising, and the country is too good an ally of China to be under serious threat from international pressures.
The prospects for democracy might come down one of four paths. The more likely scenario is that the long drawn out process to draft a new constitution is actually completed and that elections follow which would lead to a civilian administration, albeit under continuing tight military control and influence - this would hardly be seen around the world as a transition to democracy, but it might just be the first step on the ladder. Less likely is the prospect that the people might rise up again, as they did in 1988, and seize power following a period of bloody civil disobedience. Thirdly, there might be a change in the military leadership, though a coup or natural causes like death or retirement, which could lead to a more enlightened administration. Fourthly, and least likely, there might be some outside intervention to depose the regime.
The only clear element in Burma's politics is that all the people of Burma have experienced a very hard time for far too long. Any transition to democracy is likely to be long drawn out, and some form of power sharing between the political parties and the military seems inevitable if a start is to be made on the slow road to democracy.
The debate on Burma, though, should not cease until democracy and the protection of human rights are achieved for its people.